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Kampeas: RJC ‘Micro-targets’ Jews in Philly, Cleveland and south Florida

Ron Kampeas of the JTA blogged on August 29, 2012 about the RJC's upcoming 2-day grassroots outreach effort in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. This is an excerpt.

The Republican Jewish Coalition's director, Matt Brooks, met with reporters on Wednesday and added details to the group's planned blitz of south Florida and suburban Philadelphia and Cleveland on Sept. 9 and 10, part of the $6.5 million spend he is dedicating to switching over Jewish voters.

(We’ve covered other elements, including the TV ads featuring Obama voters in 2008 who plan on voting for Romney this year, and today’s ad launch targeting a “Rabbi for Obama” who has endorsed boycott and divestment from Israel.)

The glittering prize of the $6.5 million plan, Brooks suggested, was a voters list that hones in on likely switchers and the means to tip them over to the Romney.

“We have invested serious resources to develop the first meaningful proprietary Jewish voters list,” he said.

When I asked how many voters, he grinned and said, “That’s proprietary.”

OK, so we don't know the numbers, but Brooks allowed that the list encompasses only those Jews in the three areas the RJC is targeting for "massive grassroots outreach" next month. Brooks said the list was comprehensive, using “statisticians, demographers and statisticians,” and combining various methods in previous such compilations -- cold calls, synagogue membership and last names. Digging deeper, the reasearchers have identified voters as solid Romney or solid Obama -- and targeted those in between, identifying the area that most exercises them, be it the economy or Israel.

"That ’microtargeting,” Brooks said, adds up to money saved by focusing purely on those whose votes are not yet committed.

Pitches, made through real person phone calls and door-to-door literature distribution, will emphasize the interest of the target, be it Israel, the economy, or another area. “This is the stuff that will make a critical difference,” Brooks said. “We've got something that gives a significant edge that the other side doesn’t have.”